Amarillo unfazed by heat, mostly

While a severe heat wave in the southwest was blamed for increases in heat-related illnesses and deaths, strained power grids and possibly road failures as near as Lubbock, Amarillo appears to have emerged relatively unscathed from the last week of June, historically the hottest for the area.

Wes Reeves, a spokesman for Xcel Energy, said the energy demand has been a little less than average for this time of year.

“We haven’t come close to peak demand,” said Reeves, adding the spike usually comes the first week of August.

Reeves said while there have been no major supply issues, there have been some minor difficulties at the local level due to transformer troubles. Though this sometimes occurs when a transformer overheats due to high outdoor temperatures, Reeves said another cause is multiple customers arriving home from 4 to 7 p.m., a peak time for power demand, and simultaneously turning on air conditioners and other electrical devices.

Sometimes, the cause of an outage is neither of these, but something that may not come to mind when temperatures are high.

“During extreme heat, customers think outages from pole issues are heat-related,” said Reeves, referring to instances when an electrical pole is damaged or knocked over.

City officials also said they have not seen many heat-related infrastructure issues this year.

Precipitation amounts and temperatures have been closer to normal (unlike the severe drought the area endured the past two years), contributing to decrease in water consumption for 2013, said Emmett Autrey, Amarillo’s director of utilities.

Water conservation efforts by citizens also contributed to the 5 percent improvement, he said.

Road surfaces are another area sometimes affected by extreme temperatures.

Chris Mitchell, city street superintendant, said the biggest problem Amarillo residents notice during a heat wave is a softening of the asphalt. This can cause rutting and shoving of the road, he said.

Other times, rich asphalt becomes hot and sticky and “asphalt bleeding” occurs, causing it to adhere to tires as they pass over problems areas, Mitchell said. So far this year, he said there have been no major issues.

“It usually takes more than just a couple of days (for problems to occur),” Mitchell said.

According to National Weather Service meteorologists in Amarillo, temperatures only reached triple digits three times in June, all in its final week. In comparison, there were seven days in June 2012 when Amarillo residents endured triple digit temperatures, and 11 in June 2011, which also included an all-time record high of 111 degrees on June 26, 2011.

Even if temperatures don’t reach 100 degrees or higher, other factors can cause the heat index ­— how hot it feels ­­— to rise, which can cause problems for those spending prolonged periods of time outdoors, meteorologist Lance Goehring said.

“It hasn’t been that bad lately,” Goehring said, but residents should still take precautions.

Wearing light clothing, finding shade when outdoors and limiting work outside to early morning and late evening are all ways to prevent heat-related illnesses, Goehring said.

Another thing to consider, he said, is not everyone will be affected in the same way by the same temperature, so people should stay hydrated and aware of their reaction to the heat.

“Drink lots of water and if you’re sweating, move inside,” Goerhing said.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Heat-related illnesses

There are multiple heat-related illnesses that could affect anyone, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke.